IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mcm/sedapp/104.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Economic Legacy of Divorced and Separated Women in Old Age

Author

Listed:
  • Lynn McDonald
  • A. Leslie Robb

Abstract

Although progress has been made over the last 20 years, the burden of a low income in old age is still carried by unattached women. Few researchers, however, have examined exactly where the burden of poverty falls within the category of unattached older women or the nature of this poverty. Like any other group of older Canadians, unattached women are not a homogenous population. The category of "unattached" includes the separated, divorced, widowed and ever single, all of whom face different circumstances in old age because of differences over the life course. Using SLID data we examine income and sources of income from 1993 to 1999 to identify differences among these groups. The findings indicate that the separated and divorced are the poorest of all older unattached women in Canada. A key source of the difference is the growth in private pension incomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Lynn McDonald & A. Leslie Robb, 2003. "The Economic Legacy of Divorced and Separated Women in Old Age," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 104, McMaster University.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcm:sedapp:104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/sedap/p/sedap104.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rebecca Smith & Lonnie Magee & Leslie Robb & John Burbidge, 1997. "The Independence and Economic Security of Older Women Living Alone," Independence and Economic Security of the Older Population Research Papers 22, McMaster University.
    2. Lynn McDonald & Peter Donahue & Brooke Moore, 1997. "Widowhood and Retirement: Women on the Margin," Independence and Economic Security of the Older Population Research Papers 17, McMaster University.
    3. Steven G. Prus, 1999. "Income Inequality as a Canadian Cohort Ages: An Analysis of the Later Life Course," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 10, McMaster University.
    4. Myles, John, 2000. "The Maturation of Canada's Retirement Income System: Income Levels, Income Inequality and Low Income Among the Elderly," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2000147e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael R. Veall, 2007. "Which Canadian Seniors Are Below the Low-Income Measure?," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 186, McMaster University.
    2. Garry F. Barrett & Yi-Ping Tseng, 2008. "Retirement Saving in Australia," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 34(s1), pages 177-193, November.
    3. Kevin Milligan, 2008. "The Evolution of Elderly Poverty in Canada," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 34(s1), pages 79-94, November.
    4. Picot, Garnett & Larochelle-Cote, Sebastien & Myles, John, 2008. "Income Security and Stability During Retirement in Canada," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2008306e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    5. Malcolm Hamilton, 2001. "The Financial Circumstances of Elderly Canadians and the Implications for the Design of Canada’s Retirement Income System," The State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David Slater, in: Patrick Grady & Andrew Sharpe (ed.),The State of Economics in Canada: Festschrift in Honour of David Slater, pages 225-253, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    6. Michael R. Veall, 2008. "Canadian Seniors and the Low Income Measure," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 34(s1), pages 47-58, November.
    7. Robert Andersen & M. McIvor, 2013. "GINI Country Report: Growing Inequalities and their Impacts in Canada," GINI Country Reports canada, AIAS, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies.
    8. Rene Morissette & Xuelin Zhang & Marie Drolet, 2004. "The Evolution of Wealth Inequality in Canada, 1984-1999," Microeconomics 0401004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Picot, Garnett & Larochelle-Cote, Sebastien & Myles, John, 2008. "Securite et stabilite du revenu a la retraite au Canada," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2008306f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    10. Van Vliet, Olaf & Been, Jim & Caminada, Koen & Goudswaard, Kees, 2011. "Pension reform and income inequality among the elderly in 15 European countries," MPRA Paper 32940, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Picot, Garnett & Myles, John, 2005. "Income Inequality and Low Income in Canada: an International Perspective," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2005240e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    12. Picot, Garnett & Myles, John, 2005. "L'inegalite du revenu et le faible revenu au Canada : une perspective internationale," Direction des études analytiques : documents de recherche 2005240f, Statistics Canada, Direction des études analytiques.
    13. Long Mo & Jacques Légaré & Leroy Stone, 2006. "The Diversification and the Privatization of the Sources of Retirement Income in Canada," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 159, McMaster University.
    14. Marcelin Joanis & Edgard Rodriguez, 2013. "Public Redistribution and Inequality in a Period of Fiscal Consolidation: A Decomposition Analysis for Canada in the 1980s and 1990s," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 32(2), pages 218-238, June.
    15. Heisz, Andrew, 2007. "Income Inequality and Redistribution in Canada: 1976 to 2004," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2007298e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    16. Drolet, Marie & Zhang, Xuelin & Morissette, Rene, 2002. "The Evolution of Wealth Inequality in Canada, 1984-1999," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2002187e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    17. Morissette, Rene & Ostrovsky, Yuri, 2006. "Pension Coverage and Retirement Savings of Canadian Families, 1986 to 2003," Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series 2006286e, Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch.
    18. Andrejs Skaburskis, 2004. "Decomposing Canada's Growing Housing Affordability Problem: Do City Differences Matter?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(1), pages 117-149, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    low income; old age; unattached women; SLID;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mcm:sedapp:104. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/demcmca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.